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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| North Korean Children Perform 'Mass Game' |
| 2005-10-12 |
| "Mass Game" - a celebration of totalitarian brutality, mass insanity. Gotcha. Thousands of North Korean child performers move their arms and legs in perfect unison, leaving the impression they aren't human but smiling robots trained to dance and sing. It's not an "impression", it's an expression of the fact. North Koreans boast it takes only a few months to teach the 100,000 students to perform in the massive propaganda spectacle known as a "mass game." But most of the children learn their skills from a young age as part of their indoctrination into the regime's cult of personality focusing on late ruler Kim Il Sung. A murdering bastard infinitely worthy of emulation and adulation, you see. This year's show, which has been staged six times a week since Aug. 15, is the largest in three years - raising speculation it could signal a major policy announcement, such as the naming of a successor to current leader Kim Jong Il. Considering how emaciated the "performers" look, see picture at link, I'd speculate something else... The North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung's son, attended a special performance Sunday, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the North's ruling Workers' Party. The massive celebrations in Pyongyang also included a military parade on Monday with thousands of soldiers. "Everyone able to walk will participate. Or be shot." The "mass game" is drawing the attention of foreign tourists, who have been offered a rare opportunity to attend, apparently as a moneymaking venture. Tickets for the event run from $60 to $360, in addition to travel and hotel fees. Motive, meet Morons. Hundreds of South Koreans have traveled this month on one-night trips on charter flights to Pyongyang, and even American tourists have been allowed into the country to view the shows on brief tours facilitated by a Beijing-based travel firm. Yes, we have morons and toolfools, too. Was Mad Halfbright there? The show, which was originally to end Oct. 17, is likely to be extended to the end of the month because of high demand from foreign tourists, said Hyun Yung Ae, an official at the mass games organization committee. Held Over! Of course it is -- it's a money-maker, thanks to idiots and toolfools. "There is no word to describe the performance. You have to see it to feel the grandness," Hyun said. Grandness. Right. Can't you just feel it, even from here? I know I can... Starving children turned into automatons for the entertainment of idiots willing to part with hard currency. Waaay grand. [snip] "I am truly shocked. Who would have known humans are capable of these things?" said Lee Won-tae, 69, a South Korean tourist. "Only a country like North Korea can pull off something like this." Or would want to. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #7 The picture which accompanies this article is kind of creppy looking to me. All those skinny kids with fake-looking smiles.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-12 15:06 |
| #6 If they all jump in unison and with stiff knees ... after the initial screams they just might cause an earthquake... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-10-12 13:18 |
| #5 Nazi Germany used to be fond of this kind of demonstration as well. It emphasizes to the individual participants how little they matter unless as part of the Group. And to the observer, there are no individuals, just the Mass in motion. I just hope the children were fed a little extra to enable them to sustain the physical effort, as opposed to the usual, "Make a mistake and you will be shot." |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-12 13:16 |
| #4 mass gymnastics is pretty amazing to watch, it would be tough to pull off I think without a heavy handed form of leadship. |
| Posted by: bk 2005-10-12 11:27 |
| #3 Proof - damnit that communism works!!! |
| Posted by: macofromoc 2005-10-12 10:41 |
| #2 Koryo Tours in Beijing organizes these tourists to North Korea. They're not Jane Fondas, but rather people who are curious as hell about North Korea. Hell, I want to go, myself. There's a travelogue somewhere on the net of an American who lives in South Korea who went to North Korea. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-10-12 08:52 |
| #1 "There is no word to describe the performance. You have to see it to feel the grandness," Hyun said. "It's like something out of Leni Riefenstahl." |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-10-12 07:31 |